


Any Other Night, In Any Other City

by starsthatburn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting to Know Each Other, Graduation, Hotel Sex, Post-Graduation, Road Trips, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:55:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27399841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsthatburn/pseuds/starsthatburn
Summary: Regina and Emma take Henry on a road trip before he leaves for college.Requested bynascar3l
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 37
Kudos: 597





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nascar3l](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nascar3l/gifts).



> Thank you so much to Lindsay for requesting this fic and finally giving me the chance to write about the SQ graduation road trip!!! I had the most fun putting this together.
> 
> For ease and because we're all tired of them, I've written this story with both Hook and Hood out of the picture.

The trunk of the Bug was nearly overflowing, leaving Emma to lean her entire weight onto her elbow as she tried to force the last bag in. Behind her, Henry was giggling, having tried to help but been shooed away twice already. 

"You sure you've got it?"

"I'm sure," Emma grunted, although neither of them believed her. She was so busy digging her elbow in deeper that she didn't hear the slow footsteps approaching her.

"Emma," Regina sighed. "What are you doing?" 

"Packing the trunk."

"I can see that. It seems like it's going very well." Regina hesitated, then jingled her car keys. "But we're not taking the Bug."

"What?" Emma demanded, spinning around. "Why not?" 

Regina gestured to the bags that still wouldn't fit. "Well, this seems like a pretty good reason in itself." 

"But—"

"Your car is slow and unreliable and there's not enough room for all three of us, plus our bags. We're taking my car."

" _Regina._ "

"We're taking my car," Regina repeatedly calmly. "Henry, will you help Emma unload the trunk, please?"

Henry gleefully did as he was told. When his mothers had told him they were taking him on a road trip as his graduation gift, he wasn't entirely sure whether to be excited or not - even though Emma and Regina were something close to being friends nowadays, he struggled to picture them surviving in a car together for a full week without one of them strangling the other. But then they'd sat down together and discussed their route, and he'd felt the first tickle of excitement rising up inside him: the first three days would take them along the Canadian border until they reached Chicago. Henry had a friend, Josh, who he'd met at summer camp a few years earlier, who lived there. It had been ages since they'd hung out, and Henry couldn't wait to spend some time in the city with him before he headed back to Maine on the road through Ohio and New York, with college waiting for him not too far away on the other side.

As he unpacked and then repacked the Mercedes, he listened to his moms bickering behind him and tried not to laugh.

"Regina, you can't seriously need this much crap for a weeklong trip."

"Those are my cosmetics. What do you propose I do? Smear car grease into my pores?" 

"Or just use running water like a normal person? What the hell is in _this_?"

"My spellbooks."

" _Seriously_?"

"No," Regina said happily. "Henry's spare shoes. I don't want him complaining about blisters when we're making stops."

Henry rolled his eyes. He had to admit this kind of playful arguing made a nice change from the old days, but he still didn't love the fact that he always seemed to be at the centre of it.

But then he turned around, ready to tell his moms that he was done with the car, and found them smiling at each other. It wasn't the full-blown beam he saw Emma share with her parents or Ruby, but it was something similar and it made his chest leap. His mothers smiled at each other like they were full of uncertainty, but they were grateful for the feeling anyway. It was his favourite thing to see after all the years of fighting that had come before it.

"Hey, moms?" he said tentatively. They turned to look at him. "I think we're all set."

"Great," Regina replied, stepping closer and brushing his shoulder with her own. "Then let's get going."

* * *

The chatter from the front seat could almost be soothing if it wasn't so incessant, Emma thought as she slumped in the back with her temple pressed against the window. She was trying to focus on the scenery that was rushing past instead of the sticky wetness in her mouth, but every bump and jolt made her jaw ache. 

"Hey, Mom," Henry gabbled at Regina from the passenger seat. "When we get to Vermont, there's this cool thing we could go see."

"Really? What's that?"

"The Ben & Jerry's Flavour Graveyard."

Regina looked flatly over at him. "Are you serious?"

"It sounds fun! Don't you want to see the final resting place of chocolate peanut butter cookie dough?" 

The thought made Emma's stomach roll. She winched down the window just slightly.

"Is it on our route?" Regina asked, glancing in the rear view mirror and expecting to find Emma looking disbelievingly back at her. Instead, she found her seemingly not paying the slightest bit of attention to what they were saying.

Henry paused as he looked at Google Maps. "It's just... 90 minutes out of the way." 

"And what's in this 'flavour graveyard', exactly?" 

"God, Mom," Henry scoffed. "Like, tombstones. Of old flavours."

"You want us to drive 90 minutes out of the way to go to a cemetery? You won't even come with me to my father's tomb on Sundays."

"Your father isn't a pint of sugar plum."

Regina rolled her eyes, then glanced in the mirror again. Behind her, Emma was still staring resolutely out the window.

"Emma?" she asked gently. "Are you alright?"

Emma jumped. "Sure. Just... don't want to disturb you." 

Regina frowned, but kept driving. Emma's silence in the back seat bugged her all the way down the highway.

* * *

The gas station they stopped at was tiny and dirty, but surrounded by acres of golden fields and sprawling trees. The second Regina stepped out the car, she assumed she'd fallen headfirst back into another Enchanted Forest curse.

"Well," she said, stretching her arms. "This is strangely picturesque."

"I'm going to get gum," Henry replied, walking off to the store. Behind Regina, Emma was clambering out the back of the car. Her face was a little pale.

Regina turned to her and beamed, pretending not to notice how unsteady she looked. "It's quite nice here, isn't it?" 

"Sure," Emma replied, leaning back against the side of the car. She forced a smile. "Hey, have you noticed that since Henry turned 18, he's incapable of walking like a normal person?" 

Regina glanced over at where her son was just stomping into the gas station. She laughed. "I think he's been doing that for about three years, actually. The house has never been louder."

When she turned back, she caught Emma taking a few deep breaths. She frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why?" 

"You're just a bit grey."

"I'm fine," Emma insisted, pushing herself off the car once more when Henry reappeared. "Are we ready to keep going?" 

Regina just frowned at her. She was still breathing heavily, and it looked vaguely like returning to the backseat of the car might kill her.

And then Regina realised - this was the first time this had happened, because she'd never driven with Emma in the back before. Emma hadn't asked to sit up front because this was Henry's trip, and she obviously didn't want to ruin that for him - even if she did, apparently, get horribly car sick.

Regina fished her keys out her pocket and tossed them in Emma's direction. "Here." 

Both Emma and Henry gaped back at her. "What are these for?"

"You're driving the next leg."

"What?" Emma spluttered, glancing at their son. "Why?" 

"Because I'm tired, Miss Swan," Regina snapped in the voice that never terrified anyone anymore. "Surely you can handle this for the next couple of hours?" 

Before anyone could respond, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the backseat. Emma and Henry exchanged another look before they followed, settling in for the next leg of the ride.

After 10 minutes of driving, Emma's nausea had vanished, and she suddenly realised why she'd been 'forced' to drive in the first place. Beside her, Henry was still happily chatting away, talking about all the pizza places he wanted to visit once they got to Chicago, while behind her, Regina was listening happily. Emma had been expecting multiple comments on her driving, but to her surprise, there was very little noise from the backseat. In fact, as she lounged with her legs stretched across into the opposite footwell, Regina realised this was the first time she'd ever been driven around in her own vehicle. Once Emma had gotten used to the gear changes, the journey was surprisingly smooth. 

For the next few hours, they drove in contented quiet that was interrupted only by Henry's excited chatter and Regina's vague questions. Emma was able to relax in her seat, her feet barely kissing the pedals as the scenery shot past. It was seven o'clock when they arrived at their stop for the night - a hotel, rather than a motel, that Regina had of course booked ahead because she'd planned their week's itinerary down to the minute. Emma parked the car and climbed out to find herself standing in front of a little brick building that personified everything she'd ever imagined when she'd pictured Vermont.

"I'll get the bags," Henry said at once. At 18, he was taller than both his mothers and had been refusing to let them do any manual labour for years. At one point around his 16th birthday, he had loudly declared to Regina that she shouldn't take things up into the attic anymore because he was the man of the house now. She'd nearly split a rib trying not to laugh.

She got out the backseat of the car and stretched her arms, glad she'd booked them a room each so she could take a long bath as soon as they'd checked in. Ahead of her, Emma was wriggling her ankles to get some feeling back into her feet.

Then she looked up, caught Regina watching her, and smiled. She approached with the keys in her hand.

"Hey," she said in that gruff voice that always reminded Regina of their days in Neverland. At the time, it had been emotionless and cautious. Now, there was always a smile just tweaking at the lower edge of it.

Regina smiled back. "Hi."

"Thanks for letting me drive," Emma said, holding out the keys. "It helped."

Regina hadn't been planning to mention Emma's obvious travel sickness, but since Emma had brought it up on her own, she said, "That's alright. It was nice to be chauffeured for once."

Emma snorted. "Don't get any ideas."

"I'm afraid it's too late. I've already bought you the little hat." Regina reached out to take the keys, but somehow they didn't quite exchange hands. "And hey, since you managed to not ding up my Mercedes, maybe I'll even let you do it again tomorrow." 

Trying to look displeased, Emma replied, "I'd rather take a nap in the trunk."

"It would be much quieter if you did. I wouldn't complain."

They shared a grin over a joke that they both knew wasn't even funny. That fact didn't matter - for both of them, just talking civilly reminded them of how bad things had been several years earlier. The sniping. The resentment. The uncertainty whenever the other person was near. In particular, Regina couldn't help but remember how she'd never been sure whether she would come out of a conversation with her son still in tow, or whether he would take the opportunity to switch parents to suit his needs for the fifth time that week. Talking like friends was a blessed relief, and so was sharing jokes that wouldn't have made anyone else laugh. The fact that their hands were still outstretched, touching, as they didn't quite manage to pass the keys between them was a beautiful, unexpected, relief-filled thing.

Just beyond the hotel's entrance, Henry had dumped the first round of bags in the lobby and was walking back toward the parking lot. It was odd, he thought, that neither Regina or Emma had appeared with their last suitcases yet. Maybe they were finally taking him seriously when he insisted that he was there to do the heavy lifting for them.

But before the electric doors could swish open, he caught sight of them out in the forecourt. His mothers were smiling at each other, and at first glance it looked like they were holding hands. Then he glanced down and saw the keys hovering between them. He swallowed.

When he looked up again, Regina was finally peeling them away from Emma's fingers. Her gaze, however, hadn't strayed. She was smiling gently, and Emma was returning it ever so willingly.

"I guess we should head inside," he heard Regina's muffled voice through the doors. Before they could look round and catch him watching, he retreated to the lobby and pretending to be sorting their bags until they appeared.

After that, all he could do was watch. He saw the way Emma automatically held herself very still whenever Regina was near, like she was worried about startling her with uncalled-for familiarity. He noticed that whenever Regina said something to the desk staff that could potentially be deemed funny, she turned to Emma to see if it had received her seal of approval. When they were handed their three room keys and sent on their way, Regina passed over Emma's like she was reluctant to see it go. 

And that was how he found himself sitting on his rigid hotel bed, suddenly remembering all the tentative touches between them over the past year or two. Ever since Hook and Robin had vanished from the picture, he'd watched without noticing as his moms drifted toward each other instead. It wasn't a sudden, explosive friendship - it was cautious and unspoken. Emma would appear at the door on Thursday nights, pretending to have left a spellbook there and then not resisting when Regina invited her in for dinner. Regina would show up at Granny's while Emma was having a coffee and ask in her quietest, more uncertain voice if she could join her. They didn't know if they were friends yet, and to Henry, that had made sense for a long time. But all of a sudden he saw what they could be like on the other side of that barrier - comfortable, open and grateful to have each other. Just like that, he found himself wondering whether this road trip would be the thing to finally bring them both what they'd deserved for so long. 


	2. Chapter 2

By the time they left the hotel the following morning, Henry's interest in his mothers' conversations had grown significantly. Normally when they spoke to each other, he used the opportunity to pull out his phone and mentally check out for a while, but as they packed up the car for the next leg of their trip, he began to listen interestedly to the way they talked. Nothing seemed any different to usual - they were civil and sometimes even friendly, and when one of them made a joke, the other laughed awkwardly like they weren't sure whether they'd earned the right to find it funny. There was a distance to their friendship that Henry was slowly realising he himself had wedged there - by forcing them to compete, and by constantly switching between their houses depended on whose parenting style suited him best that day, he'd created reluctance.

Not anymore.

The moment Emma and Regina started discussing who would drive that morning, he butted in. "I didn't sleep too well last night."

They turned to look at him, both frowning. "Really?" 

"Yeah. I might just grab a nap in the back."

Before anyone could protest, he tugged open the back door and threw himself across both the seats. Emma and Regina glanced at each other, sharing a momentary shrug over just how much sleep teenagers appeared to need, before settling into the front of the car without another word. With Henry in the back, Emma had no need to drive, and Regina took up the wheel without questioning it.

The arrangement worked just fine until Emma realised that, with Henry pretending to doze in the back, the chatter from the day before had vanished. She glanced nervously at Regina, who had her eyes on the road and didn't seem to have noticed the silence in the car, before looking down at her own hands. They were twitching in her lap. 

Silence had always been Emma's worst enemy, so it didn't take more than a few miles before she reached for the radio and started flicking between stations. Regina glanced at her, rolling her eyes, but didn't comment.

At least, not for the first few minutes.

"Emma," she eventually snapped. "For God's sake. Can you just pick a station and stick to it?" 

"They're all static. I'm just trying to find something that you can actually hear."

"We're in the middle of nowhere - they're all going to be the same."

"Oh, so you want us to sit and listen to this?" Emma asked, gesturing to the stereo, which was playing a mix of a dull-voiced man talking about traffic updates and some kind of banjo music. Regina tutted.

"No. I was happy in silence."

"Well, you're a freak," Emma muttered. 

Regina suddenly reached across the car, her hand diving between Emma's legs. Emma jumped, knocking her head against the window in the process. In the back of the car, Henry watched her cheeks turn pink through half-closed eyes.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded. Regina ignored her, grappling for the glovebox and tugging it open.

"There are CDs in there," she said flatly, returning both her hands to the wheel. "Try and find something that won't drive me crazy."

Emma was burning hot all over, but she swallowed and did as she was told. The car fell into silence again as she clattered through the pile, pushing aside all the audiobooks until she eventually came across a viable option.

"What's this? ' _Chill Rockin' Anthems_ '?" she asked dryly. "Madam Mayor - is this what your version of a wild side looks like?" 

"Actually, my version of a wild side involved burning villages to the ground. You should be grateful I've moved past that."

Emma laughed uncomfortably, earning her a smirk from the driver's seat. She slotted the CD into the stereo and waited for the first track to play. This time, when quiet fell, Emma's hands weren't twitching anxiously. Henry settled back in his seat and let this new kind of comfort wash over him.

* * *

When they stopped for lunch, he deliberately threw himself into one side of the booth and spread out his gangly body so that Regina and Emma would be forced to sit opposite him. He hadn't seen them together head-on in a long time, and had convinced himself that by positioning himself there, he'd see a new side of them that was perhaps invisible from the backseat of the car. Emma slid in first, looking perfectly at ease with the seating, and settled into the corner. After a moment, Regina followed, sitting more primly with her purse on her lap.

Henry's heart dropped when he saw how uncomfortable she looked. But then she sniffed and said, "This place is a bit dingy."

"Dingier than Granny's?" Emma asked, grabbing the stack of huge, laminated menus from behind the salt and pepper shaker and passing one to Regina. Henry was grinning by the time he received his. 

"Yes. Much more so," Regina replied, scrunching up her nose at the selection. "What in the hell is 'sugar on snow'?"

Emma blinked. "What?" 

"Right here."

She pointed to the bottom of her menu. Emma automatically leaned in close, her eyes on the bizarre piece of text. "I have no idea. It says 'winter only'."

"How can a dessert only be available in the winter?" 

"No clue. Kid," Emma asked, not looking up. "Any idea?" 

Henry was still grinning, but neither of them noticed. "Nope. Never heard of it."

"That's a pity. I'd pay good money to see your mom try it."

"You don't have those kind of funds," Regina said airily. 

"If Henry and I clubbed together, I think we could manage."

"Not a chance, Miss Swan," Regina replied. Emma was still leaning close to her, and neither one of them seemed to have noticed. "But I might blow your minds all the same by ordering a burger."

Emma threw a wide-eyed look of shock at their son. "Oh my God. She's finally lost her mind."

"Seems so. Mom, you feeling okay?"

Ignoring them, Regina said, "Henry, did you see they have matzo ball soup?" 

"I'm not getting soup if you're ordering a burger!" 

"I didn't say you had to."

"Ladies, stop bickering, please," Emma interjected, earning herself a swift jab to the ribs from Regina's elbow. Henry watched the movement with sharp eyes, noticing that Emma didn't even flinch away from it. If anything, she seemed pleased with herself. She grinned and returned to her own menu, still not noticing their son observing them from the other side of the table.

Once they'd ordered their food, Henry settled back and continued to watch as they made small talk. It was kind of fascinating - Emma was never the one to pick the topic, he noticed, but as soon as Regina started speaking, she turned to her with full attention and allowed the conversation to flow. She didn't ask questions, though - that was always Regina. Instead, she responded to Regina's anecdotes with enthusiasm, and Henry could see in Regina's eyes that she appreciated that. Now that he thought about it, it had probably been years since she'd had someone to talk to like that.

Just as their food arrived, Emma glanced across the table and spotted the expression on Henry's face: half amused, half fascinated. She frowned. 

"What's that look for?" she asked as a huge sandwich and a pile of fries landed in front of her. Before he could respond, Emma had opened the top of her sandwich and, upon spotting a dusting of fresh cilantro inside, began to scrape it off with her fork. Once she'd gathered most of it up, she guided her fork toward Regina's plate, who scooped the herbs off and onto her own food without a word.

Henry stared at them like he'd just witnessed them breaking into a spontaneous song and dance routine. When Emma didn't receive an answer to her earlier question, she looked up once more and raised her eyebrows.

"Kid?" she prompted. Beside her, Regina was removing the onion from her burger and passing it over to Emma. "You okay?" 

Henry just grinned. "Yeah. I'm great."

* * *

Regina was slightly disappointed to arrive at their hotel that night. She'd had a very pleasant day in the car - the CD Emma had found made the driving go faster, and Henry seemed to be in such a strangely good mood that even the occasional traffic jam didn't dampen his enthusiasm. Although she was looking forward to settling down in a comfy double bed, she wouldn't have been averse to carrying on with the day's trip for another hour or two.

When they attempted to check in to their hotel for the night, that feeling only grew.

"I'm sorry, Ms Mills," the pale young girl on the desk stammered. "It says here you've only got two rooms booked."

Regina scowled back at her. "I confirmed yesterday that we had three rooms booked. Your manager said it was all set. Is she here?" 

"Not right now. I'm so sorry, but the system says there was a last minute change to your booking." The girl opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped when she saw the furious expression on Regina's face.

Behind her shoulder, Emma wasn't too worried. They still had two rooms, and that was far more than she'd ever had on roadtrips growing up. But behind her, their son was grinning into his fist, making sure he was facing the other way so no one would notice his mischievous smirk and ask why he looked so pleased with himself. Thankfully, everyone was too preoccupied to turn around - just like they had been on their second stop that afternoon, when he'd snuck off into an empty corner of the gas station to make a quick phone call to the hotel.

"Well, we'd still like three rooms," Regina eventually huffed. The girl turned even paler.

"I'm so sorry. We don't... They're all booked up."

"You're _kidding_."

"Regina," Emma said quietly. "It's okay. It's kind of a waste of money anyway."

Regina turned to glare at her, but eventually let out a huff of agreement. "Fine. Henry and I have shared before, I suppose." 

Henry stepped forward, his former grin carefully schooled into a scowl. " _Mom_. I can't share with you anymore."

"Why not?" 

"Because I'm 18! It's weird!" 

"Henry," Regina sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Please don't make this even more difficult for me."

But he'd had nearly two decades of dealing with his mother by that point, so the rage on her face didn't even make him flinch. "I'll sleep in the car, then."

"Oh, don't be so ridiculous. You're being a baby."

As if to prove her point, he folded his arms and scowled.

Emma eyed him for a second, noticing that the corner of his mouth was twitching. But she was aching from being in the car all day and really wanted to grab a shower before dinner, so she turned back to Regina and touched her elbow. "You can take the room and I'll sleep in the car, if you want."

"That's even more ridiculous," Regina replied sharply. She let out a noise that sounded almost like a growl. "Fine. Miss Swan and I will share tonight, but if this happens again, Henry, I'm not going to let you keep having your way." She turned back to the receptionist and asked, "Tell me the room has two beds, at least."

Much to Henry's disappointment, the desk girl nodded. "It does." 

"Fine. Then let's go upstairs before I change my mind." 

* * *

Emma thought she was comfortable with the situation. After all, she'd slept in far stranger places than this before: the back of her Bug; the front of her Bug when the backseat was covered in boxes; even someone's bathtub when they promised her a room for the night and then forgot that there had been a flood the week before. The thought of having to share a room with Regina for one single night hadn't remotely fazed her at first. But then, when they got back from dinner and found themselves staring at two beds lying side by side, she finally realised the extent of what she'd agreed to. She swallowed.

"Which, err..." she started, rubbing the side of her nose. "Which one do you want?" 

Regina was standing just as uselessly beside her. When they'd arrived earlier, she'd deliberately dumped her suitcase under the desk to avoid having to make this decision. 

"Do you have a preference?" 

"No," Emma lied. Regina rolled her eyes. 

"Fine. I'll take this one," she said, gesturing vaguely to the one closest to the window. Emma breathed a sigh of relief - years of preparing to run always made her pick the spot nearest the door. 

"Cool," she replied, grabbing her bag and beginning to sift through it. She got ready for bed as quickly as possible, aimlessly chattering to Regina in an attempt to pretend that this was all totally normal.

When she returned from the bathroom to find Regina standing in short, silky pyjamas, she nearly dropped her toothbrush. Turning away to hide her burning cheeks, she slid into her chosen bed and grabbed her phone, glueing her eyes to it until Regina was safely out of sight in the bathroom.

It would have been so much easier if she had managed to just fall asleep right then. She was exhausted from a day in the car and from the two glasses of wine she'd had with dinner, but now her head was frantically buzzing and whispering dangerous things. When she closed her eyes, she knew she wouldn't be drifting off any time soon.

Regina returned eventually, deliberately not making eye contact with Emma as she walked past her bed with her bare, tanned legs far too on show for her liking. She slipped into bed quickly and turned off the main light, then grabbed a book without a word. She too wanted to just lie down and sleep, but her muscles were twitching. Emma's presence beside her, even as she sat quietly with her eyes on her phone, felt like the sudden, unexpected rush of a train going past, over and over again.

When Emma spoke, Regina actually jumped.

"What's the road like tomorrow?" 

Regina looked incredulously round at her. "What do you mean?" 

If Regina wasn't a master of suppressing her own thoughts, she would have considered it adorable that Emma's cheeks flushed red then. 

"Just... I don't know. Sorry."

Emma looked away again, wanting to kick herself. She'd run out of social media apps to scroll through but she still didn't feel ready to try and sleep.

Eventually, Regina took pity on her. "It's mostly highway. I found a few good places to stop on the way."

Nodding enthusiastically, Emma said, "That's cool. I can drive for part of it, if you want."

"That's alright. I don't mind."

Silence fell again, and with it, Emma's stomach started churning. She shifted slightly, adjusting the position of her twitching legs, and said, "Cool." 

Half a minute later, she found herself speaking again. "Henry seems to be enjoying himself, right?" 

Regina sighed and looked round at her again. "I think so. It's hard to tell."

"Is it?" 

"Well, he's a moody teenager now. He doesn't show his enthusiasm as willingly." 

Emma smiled. "True. But he's also not whining, so that's a good sign."

"Yes. It is."

They settled into quiet yet again and Regina turned back to her book, even though she hadn't read a word of it since she'd gotten between the sheets. It didn't take long before she heard Emma take a deep breath and open her mouth again.

"Emma," Regina cut her off before she could start. "Sitting in silence won't kill you, you know."

Emma felt her entire face flush crimson. She tried to smile, even though Regina wasn't looking at her.

"Sorry," she said flatly. "Silence just never bodes well in Storybrooke, does it?" 

Regina smiled faintly but carried on pretending to read. Eventually, feeling hot with embarrassment, Emma put down her phone, turned off her lamp, and rolled onto her side.

She lay there feeling tense and humiliated for a few minutes, the muscles in her shoulders rock-tight. She didn't want to breathe too loudly in case she was disturbing Regina, but forcing herself not to was making her heart beat faster. She screwed her eyes shut and started to count.

On the other side of the room, Regina was looking uncertainly at the back of her head. Her blonde curls were spilling across the pillow, just starting to lose their shape after a long day on the road. Before she could stop it, Regina found herself wondering if she'd get to see Emma crafting them again in the morning.

"I'm excited to see Chicago," she suddenly said. In the next bed, Emma jumped.

She turned her head. "You are?"

"Yes. I haven't seen many places since I left the Enchanted Forest, and it sounds interesting. Have you been?" 

Emma blinked at her, wondering if this was a trick of some kind. When Regina just looked plainly back at her, she rolled over the rest of her body so she was facing her. 

"Yeah," she said. "A long time ago."

"Where did you stay?" 

"In my car."

Regina frowned. "Oh. Right."

"But I still liked it. It's a fun city, and the food's good."

"Henry will be pleased to hear that. I've never seen a boy eat as much as he does."

Emma laughed. "I guess he gets that from me."

The smile Regina offered her in return was warm and calming, and when the lamp went out a second later, Emma no longer felt quite as tense. She heard Regina put away her book and shuffle down beneath the sheets. If she wasn't mistaken, she too was facing the middle of the room, her gaze in Emma's direction. Emma couldn't tell whether she was actually looking at her through the dark or not.

Emma could hear her softly breathing as they both attempted to drift off. It was the strangest, most peaceful sound coming from a woman who burned through life like a raging fire.

She fell asleep to it. What she didn't realise was that Regina herself was wide awake, her eyes open, peering through the darkness until she adjusted to it, so she could see Emma at her most vulnerable and restful while she still had the chance. 


	3. Chapter 3

The closer they got to Chicago, the stranger Henry thought Regina and Emma were acting towards each other. He'd hoped their night in the same room might push them just that little bit closer together, but from their sideways glances and forced smiles, he wasn't sure it had worked. He decided it was time to take drastic action.

"Hey, moms?" he said casually after some pretty aggressive texting from the backseat. "You know Josh?" 

Regina glanced at him in the mirror. "Your friend from camp?" 

"Yeah. He's just asked if I want to go for dinner with him and his family tonight," he said. Technically Josh had asked, but only after some not-very-subtle hinting from Henry himself. "And said I can stay over after. Then his mom can drop me off in the morning and we can explore the city all day tomorrow." There was a pause. "Does that sound okay?" 

His mothers looked at each other, and then Emma shrugged.

"I suppose," Regina said eventually. "At least this means we'll spend the whole day together tomorrow."

Henry smiled. "So I can go?" 

"Of course. Just get the address and we'll drop you off when we arrive later."

In the meantime, they were approaching Toledo, which would be their last stop before they hit Chicago and turned back around again. Regina had specifically requested to stop there for lunch because she wanted to visit the art museum, after which they would drive the last four hours into the next city. Since she was doing all the driving, Henry and Emma hadn't really complained, but as soon as they'd parked and approached the museum steps, their hearts both sank.

"This looks really bad," Henry muttered to Emma. She sighed.

"I know. We can get through it together, though. Maybe they'll have penny press in the gift shop."

Henry looked blankly at her. "A what?" 

"Oh, no. I've finally shown my age." She looped her arm around Henry's shoulders and guided him in the direction Regina had just vanished. 

At once, they regretted agreeing to this. Not that Emma was quite the philistine Regina always accused her of being, but the building was deathly quiet and mostly deserted, and it made her feel nervous. Henry groaned as soon as he saw what was laid out in front of him.

"I don't get why Mom likes this stuff."

"Because she's a snob," Emma replied vaguely, spotting Regina walking into the next room. "But look - there's a glassblowing demonstration upstairs."

Henry looked blankly back at her. "Glassblowing?" 

"It could be interesting." 

"Yeah, I doubt that. I might just go to the cafe," Henry said, gesturing to the stairs. "You coming?" 

Emma paused. She could still see Regina in the next room, and there was a peaceful look of concentration on her face that was stoking something in her chest.

"I think I'll go bug your mom," she replied, handing him 10 dollars. Henry raised his eyebrows and said nothing, watching with amusement as Emma trailed after Regina.

She found her staring at a painting made up of various different stripes of colour. One glance at it could have told Emma everything she needed to know, but Regina was gazing into it like it contained all the secrets of the universe.

"Hey."

Regina looked round at her, unsurprised to find Emma alone.

"Did Henry wander off?"

"Yeah. I think he needs feeding again."

Regina laughed faintly and turned back to the painting. She could feel Emma's confusion from beside her, and it made her tense up. 

"I don't..." Emma said after a few moments of silence. She swallowed. "I don't get these."

She wasn't surprised when Regina turned to glare at her. "You don't _get_ these?" 

"I'm not trying to mock them," Emma clarified nervously. "I'm actually kind of jealous."

That immediately took the wind out of Regina's sails. She'd been expecting Emma to say something much more sarcastic.

"...jealous?" 

"I mean - you obviously see something in it that I don't, right?" 

Regina nearly slipped sideways. "Wait - you mean you're jealous of _me_?" 

Emma's cheeks blushed furiously. "Well, not exactly." 

They both fell into silence again as Emma stared resolutely at the painting. Regina felt slightly taken aback. She'd been expecting Emma to joke about how any toddler could paint these, but instead she'd found her humbly admitting that she'd like to understand them better. She thought back to what she knew about Emma's childhood and realised it probably hadn't contained many cultural museum trips.

She took a breath and stepped closer to her side.

"I can't see anything that you can't," she said quietly. "I just find it interesting to look at how they were built up, and think about what the artist meant by it."

Still prickling with embarrassment, Emma forced herself to ask, "Meant by what?" 

"Well. A lot of people's criticism about modern art is that it doesn't 'do' anything. It doesn't look like anything we can immediately recognise. People wonder what the point of it is if it's just a few stripes of paint on a canvas. Right?" 

Emma hesitated. "Right..." 

"But that's what makes it interesting - to me, at least," Regina continued, gesturing to the bottom right corner where the paint was slightly darker. "Why did the artist do that? He obviously meant something. He was getting something out. So why the sudden change in shade here? What was he trying to say?" 

Emma looked wildly at the corner where Regina was pointing. "I... have no idea."

"Neither do I. But that's why I enjoy it."

"You like being confused?" 

"Kind of," Regina said simply. She was still looking at the painting, giving Emma an unrestricted view of the thoughtful expression on her face. "It's okay to realise people are smarter than you and wonder what they were trying to say. I find it relaxing."

She half expected Emma to laugh at that, or tell her she was crazy, but when she turned to face her again, she found her frowning at the painting like she was trying to understand another language.

"I'm not sure I'd enjoy that," she said in a low voice. "I feel like pretty much everyone's smarter than me already."

It was a horribly sad admission. Regina had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her arm.

"They're not. They're just louder about what they do know."

Emma looked at her. "You think?"

"Mm. I'm certain there are hundreds of things you'd blow me away with if you stopped to actually tell me them." Regina paused, then smirked. "Even if it's just the names of all the Pokémon characters."

Emma laughed loudly, the sound bouncing off the white walls. When she looked back at the painting, her cheeks were flushed again, but it was a different shade of pink to earlier. If she was a painting in that museum, Regina would spend hours looking at her and wondering why that specific colour made her feel so warm.

She jolted and stepped back, moving away from the thought and onto another picture. Emma quietly followed her. To her surprise, Regina found that she didn't mind the company. 

* * *

When they reached Chicago that evening, they dropped Henry off at Josh's apartment before heading to their hotel. As soon as they arrived at the checkin desk, they realised they had another problem.

"So, I've got three rooms booked for your party," the woman on the desk said, frowning once she realised there were only two of them in the first place.

"Oh. Right," Regina said. "I forgot to cancel Henry's. Is it too late?" 

The woman confirmed they could still remove his from the booking, but Regina paused again. Emma knew what she was thinking.

"We already survived one night together without killing each other," Emma said. "And it's kind of a waste to spend double the amount we need to. We could just share again, for tonight." 

Regina nodded uncertainly. Emma thought she was about to be overruled, but five minutes later found herself opening the door to the one room they would be sleeping in together.

She stopped so hard in her tracks that Regina crashed into the back of her.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked, peering around her shoulder. She paused. "Oh."

The bed in the middle of the room was large and cosy, but it was, in fact, just one bed. 

"Oh, for God's sake," Regina hissed. "I wouldn't have ditched the other rooms if I knew this."

Emma wasn't particularly offended by her annoyance, because she too couldn't say she loved the idea of sharing with Regina. She knew from Hook's previous complaints that she rolled around a lot in her sleep and often thrashed about from nightmares, and she couldn't imagine Regina would accept that without complaint. So, when Regina stormed over to the phone and dialled reception, she said nothing.

There was a long, awkward conversation over the phone before Regina blurted out, "What do you mean, there aren't any twins left?"

"You asked for three double rooms," the woman on the desk replied. "All our twins are already booked for the night." 

Regina groaned and opened her mouth, ready to ask for one of their just-cancelled rooms back. But then she saw the way Emma was awkwardly watching her, still holding onto her bag like she was waiting to be sent down the corridor, and sighed.

"Fine," she said. "Never mind."

She hung up and offered Emma an awkward smile. Then, after a heavy silence that neither of them knew how to fill, she said, "You know - I think I need a drink."

Emma visibly sagged with relief. "That, Madam Mayor, is an excellent idea." 

* * *

Emma was certain Regina would baulk at the dingy little bar they walked into, but instead she threw herself into a chair with the determination of a woman who wanted nothing more than to get very, very drunk. The slightly sticky menu told them they could only order various kinds of fried food, but the beer was cheap and the place was loud. Emma immediately felt right at home.

"Will you judge me if I order a whole beer pitcher to myself?" 

"We're not sharing?" Regina asked, making Emma's eyes pop. 

"You want to drink beer?" 

"Well, I'm certainly not going to try and order a Merlot, am I?" 

Emma laughed and waved the waiter over. Right away, she noticed his eyes land on Regina. 

"What can I get you?" 

"We'll take a pitcher of Budweiser. And maybe a plate of onion rings, too - I'm starving."

Barely paying attention to what Emma was saying, the guy scribbled down her order and turned to Regina. "And for you, ma'am?" 

Regina's eyebrows shot up. "Do I seriously look old enough to be a 'ma'am'?"

"Absolutely not, but you look like you command respect," he replied, grinning. Emma was disappointed when she saw Regina smirk back at him.

"You're not wrong about that."

"So, can I get you anything?" 

"Just the beer and the onion rings for now. I'll wave you over when I've got a taste for something else."

The man's face immediately creased into a knowing grin. "In that case, I have another reason not to take my eyes off you."

He walked off, leaving Regina shaking her head and Emma trying not to dig through her own jeans with her nails.

"Wow," she said. She was trying to sound amused, but it came out slightly flat. "Look at you go."

"Excuse me?" 

"You've got guys lining up for you already."

Regina snorted. "Hardly. He's just trying to get a bigger tip."

"He's trying to get something, that's for sure," Emma muttered. Regina thought she detected a note of jealousy in her voice and hesitated, but before she could say anything, Emma was piping up again. "So. It's been, what? A year since you and Robin broke up?" 

"Something like that."

"I guess it probably is time you got back in the saddle then, huh?"

Wrinkling her nose at the expression, Regina said, "Hasn't it been six months since Hook left?" 

"Yeah. Why?" 

"Well - doesn't that mean it's time for you to saddle up again too?" 

Emma shuddered. "I don't think so. Besides - the waiter only had eyes for you."

That same strange note of dejection made Regina's cheeks flush. "In that case, we can find you someone better."

For a second, Emma looked right at her, not speaking. There was something new and uncertain swimming in her eyes.

Regina opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, but a nervous jolt in her chest stopped her. Emma wilted. Then the waiter brought over their gigantic pitcher of beer, and the moment was gone.

* * *

It was strangely easy to fall asleep once they'd staggered back to the room at midnight. Regina was exhausted from another day of driving and far too much beer, while Emma felt like all her emotions had been tugged out of her, knotted together into a cord and pushed through a mangle. The second her head hit the pillow, she was out. It didn't even occur to her that it was the first time in half a year that she'd gone to sleep with another person in her bed.

Regina was similarly out of it, not noticing Emma's tiny snuffles in her sleep or the fact that her legs never seemed to lie still even when she was unconscious. Instead, she found herself dreaming of a very, very hot room. It reminded her of the cursed place filled with fire that Charming had found himself trapped in years earlier. She was wandering around it, not hurt but getting slightly uncomfortable from the heat, and trying to find the exit. Then there was smoke, but instead of choking her, it just lightly tickled her nose and made her want to sneeze.

Sweat was trickling down the back of her neck and she reached up to swat at it, and in that moment, she jolted awake. She was still burning hot, her shirt clinging to her.

As soon as she tried to move, she knew why.

Sometime during the night, she'd rolled toward Emma and curled up against her side. The tickling against her nose had been Emma's unruly hair. Still fast asleep, Emma hadn't seemed to have noticed Regina's body pressed against her or her arm flung over her waist. If anything, it looked like her shuffling legs and anxious forehead had finally settled. 

Dawn light was just starting to trickle in from behind the curtains, and with it, Regina saw all of this. She felt the sweat running down her back from how close she'd been pressed up against Emma's burning hot body, and then, with a jolt of horror, saw that her fingertips had started to creep under the hem of Emma's shirt. Her thumb had just made contact with a rib bone when she'd woken up.

Regina squawked and tumbled back, wrenching herself so dramatically away from Emma's body that she fell off the edge of the mattress and thudded to the ground. Her hip awkwardly hit the carpet and she swore out loud. Above her, she heard a mumbling. There was silence.

And then—

"Regina?" 

At once, Regina bobbed up from the floor and smiled manically. "Hi."

Emma had pushed herself upright in bed and was rubbing at her eyes. 

"What time is it?" she asked, then noticed where Regina was sitting. "What are you doing down there?" 

Leaping to her feet, Regina ignored the second question and replied, "It's a little after five." 

"Oh. Are we getting up?" 

"No. Not yet."

Emma felt groggy and disorientated and the longer she looked at Regina, the less she understood what was going on. Regina's hair was a mess and her eyes were wide and panicked, and suddenly her body - normally swollen with confidence and self awareness - was twitching and wirey. She smiled again, wider this time. Emma tried not to grimace at how manic she looked. 

"Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," Regina replied too quickly. "I just... had a nightmare."

"Oh," Emma replied, rubbing her eyes again. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

A few beads of sweat were still clinging to the underside of Regina's hair, and all she really wanted to do was jump in a cold shower until the memory of what had happened was shocked from her. Instead, she replied, "No. No, not at all. I'll be fine. I've just got to... get back in bed and... you know. Go back to sleep."

When she made no move to do either of those things, Emma frowned and edged further back on her side of the mattress, in case Regina needed more room. A few moments later, Regina reluctantly slid back between the sheets, noticing with horror that they still felt slightly clammy.

No matter how confused Emma was by her behaviour, she managed to fall back asleep within minutes. Regina could tell from the way her breathing softened. She, meanwhile, lay there feeling like a shock of electricity was racing up and down her spine. Wide awake, she stared up at the faintly grey ceiling and tried to stop her heart pounding.

She didn't move, because she was terrified she'd find her way toward Emma again. And yet, for some reason, buried deep in the pit of her stomach, she felt a sick, sad longing for Emma to roll over and need her in her sleep instead. 


	4. Chapter 4

Back in the old days, when just stepping out of her front door had involved gearing up for a fight, Emma had been used to the uncomfortable energy radiating between her and the mayor. Whenever she saw her coming, she would automatically straighten her spine and force herself to stop smiling. All their conversations were battles, even if they didn't appear that way from the outside, and she had to be prepared to fight at all times.

It had been exhausting. The first time she and Regina had spoken civilly to one another, she'd gone home with very faint tears in her eyes at the sheer relief of knowing that things were starting to get a bit simpler.

So when they reunited with Henry the following morning and ventured into Chicago together, Regina's suddenly cold behaviour nearly made her cry for a different reason.

She wasn't being unfriendly, exactly - they'd spoken plenty as they'd navigated around one another's bathroom schedules and then headed into the city. But Regina looked flushed and tense, and when Emma tried to joke or ask her a question, she didn't reply with the same readiness that she had 12 hours earlier. When they'd stumbled out of the bar together the night before, Regina had even jokingly linked her arm in Emma's and made a comment about what the other residents of Storybrooke would think if they could see them. Emma had blushed and laughed and been grateful it was dark out.

She decided maybe that was the issue - Regina had gotten too tipsy and too friendly the night before, and now she was stepping back again so Emma didn't get any ideas about them being real friends. The thought sent a sharp stabbing pain directly through her gut. 

"That place is cool," she said, pointing at a random building that didn't look very special at all. She was desperate, though, and she knew Regina would appreciate the opportunity to call her an imbecile for finding a building interesting just because it had windows and running water. But instead Regina just frowned, then smiled awkwardly without response. Emma deflated and took a step back.

"Are you two fighting again?" 

Emma turned with a jolt and found Henry watching her anxiously. "No. Why?" 

"Something feels off."

"Does it? I didn't notice," Emma lied desperately. It was obvious Henry didn't believe her, but to her immense relief, he didn't comment. 

But the fact that she wasn't just imagining it sat in Emma's stomach for the next few hours, and as soon as she found herself alone with Regina again, she couldn't help but sidle up to her with an awkward smile on her face. "Hey."

Henry had just vanished into a comic book store, and Regina suddenly looked like she was considering darting after him.

"Hi."

An excruciating silence followed. Regina couldn't bear to make eye contact - not when she could still remember how warm she'd been when she'd woken up practically dry-humping Emma's leg - and quickly looked at the ground. Emma watched her tucking her hair behind her ear with longing. 

"I just wanted to check you're okay."

Regina glanced up. "Me?" 

"Yeah. You seem quiet. I need to make sure I didn't do something really stupid while drunk last night."

Except she hadn't been that drunk in the first place - she just wanted to offer Regina an excuse in case she wanted to grab hold of it.

She was surprised when Regina's cheeks burned crimson. She looked away again. "No. You didn't."

"You're sure?"

"I'm positive. I'm just... tired," she finished lamely. 

When she glanced back up, she nearly cried at the expression on Emma's face. She was watching her worriedly, her gaze focused on the bags under her eyes and the strange new colour in her cheeks. It was an expression so soft and caring that Regina wanted to curl up under it like it was a blanket.

"Do you get nightmares often?" 

Regina jumped. "Sorry?" 

"You just... Last night, you woke up because you had one." Emma paused, frowning. "Right?" 

In all the drama and humiliation of the night before, Regina had completely forgotten about the lie she'd told. The sympathy on Emma's face suddenly made her feel dirty all over.

She opened her mouth to respond, but her throat felt tight and she couldn't bring herself to lie again. Instead, she shrugged. "I guess. I think I'm going to go check on Henry."

And just like that, she was gone. Emma blinked, looking around at the people streaming past her in case one of them was able to offer a little more insight into what was spinning Regina round in a constant set of 180s. But they all brushed past without so much as a glance in her direction, and as she blinked at them, Regina vanished into the store. 

With a sigh, Emma walked over to the nearest bench. She sat down on it alone and waited there quietly, hoping that her strange, fragmented family was still planning to come and find her again.

* * *

As soon as they set off again, Henry noticed the new walking arrangement. Emma was trailing behind, looking interestedly round at her surroundings with an expression that suggested she wanted to talk about what she was seeing. But because Regina and Henry were a few steps ahead of her, not quite walking arm-in-arm but definitely moving with a kind of solidarity that told Emma she wasn't invited, she kept her mouth shut. Regina didn't seem to be bothered by this, but Henry felt a bit sticky.

After a few blocks, he fell back slightly. As soon as Regina noticed he wasn't with her anymore, she strode ahead, leaving rather too much space between them.

"Hey," Emma said, beaming at him as he fell into step beside her. "Where have you been?" 

"Up front, babysitting Mom," Henry replied. At once, Emma's face collapsed. "What's going on?" 

"With what?"

"With you two. She's being all moody."

"How is that any different to normal?" Emma asked. Her joke was slightly flatter than it usually would have been, though. Henry saw a faint frown line between her eyebrows.

"Come on," he persisted. "Did something happen?" 

Emma glanced over at him, then sighed. Once she was certain Regina was far enough ahead of them to not hear a word over the dull roar of the surrounding crowd, she said tentatively, "I'm not sure."

"How can you not be sure?" 

"Well, I'm pretty used to pissing Regina off without meaning to," she joked halfheartedly. Her gaze was on the back of Regina's head, looking so longingly at the sway of her glossy hair that Henry knew she was seconds away from whining out loud. 

"Have you asked?" 

"Sure. She didn't really give me an answer, though." Emma suddenly hesitated. "Has she said anything to you?" 

"Nothing. She's just been kind of sketchy all day."

Emma nodded reluctantly. "I'm pretty sure I did something to upset her, but I haven't been able to work out what it was yet. Any guesses?"

But Henry, for once, had no idea. He knew they'd gone out together the night before, but since Regina didn't seem the type to drunkenly kiss someone and then regret it the next morning, he had to assume it wasn't that. If Emma had said something stupid or offensive, she'd probably remember it, so it wasn't that either. The bottom line was something strange was spinning around inside Regina's brain, and neither of them had any access to that particular locked room.

He looked ahead at his mother again. She was walking with her shoulders back and her head high, deliberately not looking at the couple who were straggling behind her.

As soon as Emma disappeared to buy them some pizza slices - which happened roughly every 15 minutes once she'd remembered just how good Chicago pies were - he rounded on Regina. She saw his dark expression and folded arms, and her eyebrows shot up.

"What?"

"What happened last night?" he asked flatly. It didn't escape him that Regina immediately jumped and blushed.

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, you're acting weird. Emma thinks you're mad at her."

The way Regina's haughty expression crumbled made his chest grow warm. "She does?"

"Yeah. She thinks she's done something to upset you but doesn't know what it is."

Regina bit her lip. "Did she ask you to speak to me?" 

"Come on, Mom. As if Emma would ever do that."

Nodding, Regina hesitated for a few moments. "I'm not mad at her."

"You're not?" 

"No. I'm just tired."

Henry snorted. "No, you're not. When you're tired you get crabby, not quiet." 

"I beg your pardon?" Regina asked, trying to use the dangerous voice that had always worked so well during Henry's childhood. That day, though, he just grinned and nudged her.

"You know it's true," he said, then returned to the topic in hand. "She's upset, Mom. If she did something then that's fine - I'm sure no one would be surprised - but you should at least talk to her about it. The trip was going so well until now."

Regina completely missed the slightly prying tone to his statement, because Emma had reappeared and was walking toward them with three slices of pizza stacked up in one hand and a bottle of Snapple in the other. She was wearing the deeply excited expression that only came from the arrival of good, hot food. As soon as Regina saw her, something inside her chest melted into a warm puddle that ached and clung to the bottom of her ribcage. She tried not to smile, but she failed.

Henry saw it all, of course. He watched as Emma handed over the food to Regina, and how their fingers made contact for a second while each of them decided who should be the one to pull away.

* * *

The guilt had stewed in Regina all day. She'd wanted to grab Emma and speak to her privately, but in the heavy throng of central Chicago, the opportunity had never arisen. It was only when they got back to their shared hotel room and Emma had wordlessly headed for the bathroom that Regina heard herself blurting out, "I'm not mad at you."

Emma turned around instantly, her eyebrows scrunched together. "You're not?" 

"No. Not at all," Regina replied, plonking herself down on the bed with a sigh. Henry was down the hall in his own room, and although they probably could have used the opportunity to request a third room once more, either no one had thought of it or no one had been willing to say it. 

Emma nodded, but it was obvious she didn't believe her. "Okay."

"I'm serious. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

"Right. Then... what's been bothering you?" 

Regina had her answer - a not-quite lie - all ready. "Nothing really. I've just been feeling a little off. You know what those days are like." 

With a tentative smile, Emma replied, "Yeah, I guess. Maybe you're homesick."

"Maybe. Or seriously, I could just be tired. Either way, you didn't do anything wrong."

Emma narrowed her eyes, like she was trying to use her supposed superpower to check whether Regina was lying. When she seemingly came up empty, she nodded.

"Okay. If you're sure."

"I'm positive." 

Finally, Emma smiled. Relief swept through Regina like a forest fire.

Then, just as Emma was turning back to the bathroom, a thought visibly struck her. She paused before looking back at Regina once more.

"It's actually sucks you slept so badly," she said, "because, for some reason, I slept really well."

Something cold and rock solid plummeted into the space between Regina's hip bones. "You did?" 

"Yeah - like, crazily good. Until you woke me up with your nightmare, I was pretty much dead to the world." She paused, thinking of what she remembered from the night before - feeling safe and warm and slightly protected, dreaming of a misty kind of forest where she knew nothing bad would ever happen to her. 

Regina smiled faintly. "Well, in that case, maybe we should share a room more often."

She was rewarded with a beaming grin that made Emma's entire face light up.

"I sure wouldn't be opposed," she said as she finally disappeared into the bathroom. As the door clicked shut, Regina collapsed back onto the bed with a groan, feeling a new kind of heat rising up from the base of her stomach and into her chest. It felt like heartburn, if heartburn was made of smoky vanilla clouds and sweet little pockets of stardust. 

As Emma showered, she lay there basking in it. When the bathroom door opened and a wave of body wash and perfume crept out, she nearly sank into it and fell asleep.

* * *

Everyone was relieved that the mood had shifted at dinner. Both Regina and Emma were looser and more comfortable, which meant Henry was too. They sat in a nice restaurant and enjoyed pleasant food and even pleasanter conversation, not really noticing as the time passed. When Henry casually asked at 10pm if he could try some of their leftover wine, to everyone's surprise, Regina poured him half a glass and nudged it toward him, secretly delighted when he didn't wince as he slowly tasted it.

She herself felt a little drunk with happiness as they returned to their rooms. Eight years earlier, she'd been in cold, grey-tinted town waiting for something interesting to happen, and now she was staggering down a hotel hallway with her son and a woman she'd once hated but now adored just a tiny bit, feeling lighter than she probably deserved. She and Emma each kissed Henry on his wine-reddened cheeks and reminded him they needed to be up early the next morning to start their drive back to Maine, and then watched as he sauntered down the hall. He was so tall, Regina thought. So happy.

It was wonderful to see.

Emma struggled to get their door open with her clumsy hands, but then held it ajar so Regina could walk in ahead of her. As soon as they were inside, Regina noticed a difference in their behaviour from the night before.

"That was a lovely dinner," she said, far, far too loudly. "I really enjoyed it."

She thought Emma might mock her for her over-enthusiasm, but she was too busy struggling to unzip her boots. "It was. And Henry seemed to be having a good time, too."

Regina sighed happily and fell back onto the bed. On the other side of the room, Emma had freed herself from her shoes and was undoing her belt.

"It's a shame we have to leave tomorrow. I'd actually love to spend another day here."

"Me too. But I can only take so much time off before I need to get back to work. And the same goes for you, I imagine."

Emma looked up in faux surprise. "Wow - that makes a nice change from, 'And I guess the sheriff station will need you to stagger back in and break the copier at some point too'." 

Regina rolled her eyes, but to her dismay, they immediately settled back on Emma. Her blonde curls were tumbling all over the place as she threw her belt into her bag, and then unzipped her jeans. She paused for a second, and Regina wondered if she was going to suddenly remember that she was in the same room as someone whom she'd never gotten undressed in front of before. But then, with a jolt of shock that made her stomach clench, Emma grabbed the bottom of her shirt, yanked it up, and was left standing in her bra and an open pair of jeans, her red panties peeking out from underneath.

Regina knew her cheeks had turned the exact same shade of crimson, but thankfully Emma wasn't paying attention. She threw her shirt in the direction of her luggage, then turned around to remove her bra. There was a split second where Regina found herself faced with twitching back muscles and the deep divet of a spine that she inexplicably wanted to run her tongue down the length of. Then Emma was wearing her baggy, washed-out pyjama shirt, and Regina was forced to look away before she could get caught staring.

Emma kept chatting happily as they both got ready for bed, seemingly not noticing that Regina had gone quiet once more. She slipped into bed first, her nighttime regime a lot less high-maintenance than the mayor's was, leaving Regina to remove her make-up with shaky hands and then return to the bedroom feeling far, far too exposed.

Emma was on her phone and didn't glance up when Regina crept over and slipped into bed beside her. Right away, she noticed the warmth radiating from Emma's side and the fact that her own sheets were crisp and icy cold.

She couldn't help but remember what it had been like waking up pressed into the full length of Emma's body the night before. Never in her life had she done that - normally she slept soundly on her back or occasionally on her left side, but never on her right. And yet, as soon as Emma and her furnace body had curled up beside her, her subconscious had decided to take a trip to the other side of the bed. Finding herself with a whole armful of warmth and comfort and sweet, soft curls in her arms had been the most magical wake-up call of her life.

She glanced over at Emma and wondered what would happen if she rolled toward her right then. For a second, she was tempted. But then nerves struck her down and she sighed, tugging the sheets up to her chin, and stared up at the ceiling as she waited for the lights to be turned off.

But Emma didn't appear ready to go to sleep just yet. She put her phone down, but turned to Regina with a grin. "Henry's enjoying himself, isn't he?" 

Regina nodded, try not to look directly back at her. "He is. It's nice to see."

"Have you two travelled much before?" 

At that, Regina had no choice but to look dully back at her. "At what point during my evil curse would we have found the time to hit the Bahamas?" 

Emma blushed slightly, but still laughed. "Right. But you said you've shared hotel rooms before."

There was a long pause before Regina said, "Yes. Well. In the past." 

"Where were you going?" 

"There was... a time when I wanted to get us out of Storybrooke. We hit the road and stayed in motels as I tried to get us to another town."

Emma blinked. "Seriously?" 

"Yes."

"Why?" 

"Because it wasn't a good place for him, obviously. Think about it - he kept growing up, but everyone in his class stayed the same age. He was confused. He wasn't happy and it was a mess. Of course I wanted to get him out of there."

The scrunched-up look on Emma's face suggested that she'd wondered about all that in the past, but she'd never asked about it for fear of giving herself a migraine.

"So you left?"

"Tried to leave," Regina corrected. "But we never got anywhere. Any road we took always led us back to Storybrooke."

Silence fell in the half-lit room, and Regina waited for Emma to make an uncomfortable joke about reading the fine print of evil curses.

Instead, she said in a soft voice Regina had never heard before, "I'm glad you tried, though."

Regina finally rolled toward her. "Why?" 

"Because it means you always put Henry above your curse, even if you didn't think about it."

She knew from Regina's expression that she was deciding whether to be offended or not. Eventually, she smiled back. "Like I had a choice. You know as well as I do that as soon as Henry's in your life, you can't say no to him."

Emma grinned at her. She had slid down into the bed and was bundled up with her covers pulled up to her chin. She looked much smaller than Regina had ever seen her - annoyingly, it only made her want to cuddle closer even more.

"You look like a baby all swaddled up like that," she said. The sentence didn't come out as disparagingly as she'd wanted - instead, she sounded slightly tender.

Emma pouted in response. "Hey, back off. I'm just getting comfy."

"Right," Regina said dryly. "And would you like a bedtime story as well?" 

"Depends - will it be about you?" 

"No, but it certainly won't be about you either."

Emma grinned again. "That sounds fine to me."

With a huff, Regina suddenly pushed herself upright and started rearranging her pillows. Neither of them knew exactly why she was doing it, but there was an air of trying not to get too comfortable hovering around her. 

"Stop that," Emma grumbled, shuffling down further under her covers until just her eyes were poking out the top.

"Oh, sorry, dear," Regina drawled. "Disturbing you, am I?"

"Aren't you always?"

Without thinking, Regina laughed at her grumpiness and leaned forward, pressing a playful kiss against Emma's forehead. Any other night, in any other city, she knew both of them would have laughed it off and pretended nothing had happened at all. But in that moment, as Chicago streamed past and their trip back home stretched out ahead of them, they both froze. Regina looked down at Emma, who was suddenly no longer hidden beneath her blankets but was staring up at her with wide eyes that were almost daring her to go one step further, and hesitated. That same warmth from the night before was creeping up inside her.

She couldn't have said who was the first to lean forward. All she knew was that one second they were looking curiously at one another, their pupils wide in the dim light and their fingers caught around the edges of hotel sheets, and the next their lips were pressed together. As Regina leaned down, her hair dangled in her face, tickling Emma's forehead and cheeks and smelling of coconuts. Beneath her, Emma was snaking her arms up from under the blankets so she could wind them around Regina's neck and tug her down.

The full length of Regina's body landed on top of her like a silk cover, and when Emma felt her curls being tenderly pushed away from her face, she nearly cried. The sheets separated them, but she still felt Regina's knee land between her own and push down into the mattress for stability. When Emma closed her thighs around it and held it there, Regina moaned and kissed her harder, prying her lips open so she could use her tongue to make Emma whimper and whine. It swept through her mouth gracefully, just like Emma had always known it would, and when she tightened her grip on Regina's neck and yanked her closer, she was relieved when Regina settled into the shape of her like she was her shadow.

As her left hand continued toying with Emma's hair and teasing it away from her face, her right slid down, from her cheek to her throat to the faint line of her collar bone protruding from the top of the sheets. Every touch felt electric and dangerous, but Emma didn't feel embarrassed by how loudly she was gasping or how often her hips bucked up at the faintest contact. If anything, Regina was reacting even more violently than she was - she was quieter, sure, but no one could deny how tightly she was clinging on. Her pelvis ground forward like it was looking for something, and whenever it met Emma's hips, she sighed gratefully, as if she was wondering what the hell every other moment of her life had been for if not for kissing Emma exactly like this until the sun rose.


	5. Chapter 5

The atmosphere at breakfast was so unusual that even Henry couldn't decipher it. He watched as Regina asked Emma for the salt, then pointedly refused to look at her as she passed it over - even though their thighs were clearly pressed together under the table - without having the faintest idea what it meant. There was a new shyness between them that he'd never seen before - over the years they'd gone from uncertain to enemies to deadly enemies to maybe friends, but this new development was the strangest of them all.

He frowned and watched as Emma accidentally touched Regina's hand with the back of her own, hesitated, held it there, and then slowly pulled away like she had been scolded by an invisible teacher. It was weird, but he thought he saw Regina's cheeks turn pink.

When they began their journey back home, he clambered into the backseat without it being discussed. For a moment he worried that one of his mothers would make an excuse and peel herself away from the other, but instead they settled into their usual positions - Regina at the wheel, Emma rummaging in the glove compartment for candy - without a word. As they headed into Indiana, a new routine became obvious: less chatter, but more glances across the car. Emma opened a bottle of water, took a sip and then offered it to Regina, who drank it without comment. Henry watched them eagerly, spotting the energy dancing between them like it was made of bright lights, and desperately wished he could ask what was going on. But he knew no good would come of that - if anything, it would probably send them hurtling back a step.

Instead, he sat back and remained quiet, watching them all the way up to their stop for the night.

When they arrived at the checkin desk and the man behind it handed them two keys, not three, he didn't comment. He also didn't say a word at dinner whenever he caught them smiling nervously at each other and occasionally touching each other's knee under the table.

Meanwhile, Regina and Emma hadn't even considered that he might have noticed. They were so wrapped up in trying not to state at each other that it didn't occur to them their son might be staring at them instead.

When they arrived back at their rooms, Regina kissed Henry's cheek before he vanished behind his door. Their rooms were side by side this time, which meant he had to resist the urge to press his ear up against the wall the moment he was inside.

In the next room, Emma was kicking off her shoes as Regina watched from the doorway. They both felt hot and slightly jumpy from a day trapped in the car together without being able to say anything they needed to say. Regina wondered which one of them would be the one to break the silence.

A second later, Emma looked up, tucking her hair behind both ears, and smiled. "You doing okay?" 

"Sure," Regina replied, removing her own shoes before heading over to the bed. Emma continued watching as she sat down. "Are you?" 

"I'm good. It's just been weird not being able to talk properly all day."

"I know. Maybe we should have scheduled our little tryst better."

Emma laughed. "Was it... okay?" 

For about half a second, Regina considered propping up her protective walls and offering Emma a disinterested shrug. It would have been very, very easy to act like their hour-long kiss from the night before hadn't meant anything to her at all. But then she remembered what it had felt like to fall asleep beside Emma - not wrapped up in each other's arms, but deliberately facing one another and watching the other breathe - and she couldn't do it. She smiled instead.

"It was perfect."

Emma let out a heavy sigh of relief and walked over. Plonking down beside her, she said, "Good. I was worried it was only me." 

"You weren't paying attention then, were you?" 

"Do I ever?"

"No," Regina said, nudging her playfully. "I guess you don't."

Emma grinned back, but then her gaze fell to the knotted fingers in her lap. "It's just... I don't want to presume anything or put pressure on you, but last night was kind of great. It would suck if we couldn't do it again." 

She sounded so hopeful that Regina nearly threw her onto the pillows then and there.

"Oh, really?" she asked smoothly. Her hand crept out and traced a faint line up the front of Emma's thigh. "That's quite the compliment."

"I'm trying to be casual."

"Well, don't. I've never liked casual."

Emma's head shot up at the certainty in her voice and found Regina staring levelly back at her, her eyes darker than ever. For some reason, she could sense that she was slightly nervous, but at the same time she saw determination in her face. She was challenging Emma to be brave and take this further, and Emma was so enamoured with her that she didn't even pause to consider saying no.

She shuffled closer and admitted, "I haven't done anything like that in a long time."

"What about Hook?" 

"That was different. We got together so slowly, because I was resistant to it the whole time, that when we finally kissed it was almost an anticlimax. Whereas with you, I..." Emma hesitated, gathering her nerve. "I think I've wanted to kiss you for a really, really long time, but I didn't realise it until we got into the car a week ago. And then as soon as it happened, I thought I'd die if we stopped."

The words rushed out of her like water, and she found herself breathless when she finally came to a halt. After a beat, she peered up at Regina like she was expecting to find her laughing. Instead, she was watching her thoughtfully, already reaching out to tenderly tuck Emma's hair behind her ear.

"I think I've loved you for years."

Something inside Emma ground to a halt. "What?" 

"I know," Regina replied solemnly. "I didn't want to admit it, and maybe I shouldn't be admitting it now. But I think I have. Even when Robin left and I was heartbroken, a tiny part of me was relieved because it meant I was free for you if you ever wanted me. I just didn't admit it to myself until last night."

Emma smiled wistfully. "That's crazy."

"I know."

"I always thought you were the level-headed one out of the two of us."

"I know," Regina said yet again. "But something about you makes me go a bit insane."

It was a strange, sweet compliment, and Emma couldn't help but laugh. She leaned forward to kiss Regina, and was so blessedly relieved when Regina kissed her back.

When they fell back against the sheets, it was with none of the surprised uncertainty of the night before. Regina gently lowered Emma down and cupped her cheek, but kissed her hard enough to make it clear that her cautiousness was long gone. Eventually her hand slid down from Emma's face to her throat, and when it was nearly at her chest, she paused. Emma nodded without breaking their kiss, and then groaned out loud when she felt a hand sliding over her breast and tracing the peak of her nipple through her shirt.

And then the hand was slipping lower, reaching the bottom of her shirt and easing it up. Emma was devastated when Regina stopped kissing her, until she felt her shifting and easing down the bed so she could press her lips against Emma's exposed stomach. Emma inhaled sharply, causing her hips and ribs to rise up, and Regina moaned into the new dips and curves she was privy to. A gentle bite against Emma's lowest rib created such a low whimper of longing that Regina nearly tore the rest of her clothes off right then.

But she forced herself to move slowly, not pushing Emma's shirt up too far and only unbuttoning the top of Emma's jeans. She rubbed her nose against the space between Emma's belly button and the zipper of her pants, breathing in the smell of her, before kissing the skin hard and making her jump. A tiny red mark was left behind.

"Do you bruise easily?" she asked.

Above her, Emma whimpered. "Kind of." 

"Is that going to cause a problem?" 

"No," Emma replied breathlessly. "You can do whatever you want."

Regina lifted her head and met Emma's gaze, checking that there wasn't any uncertainty on her face. When Emma nodded sharply, Regina returned to her stomach and kissed her again, harder this time, sucking what flesh she could find between her teeth and vibrating when it made Emma moan.

"You're going to need to keep it down a bit," Regina muttered into her abdomen. "Henry's next door."

"Then you're going to need to stop touching me," Emma replied through gritted teeth. She was relieved when her words were met with a laugh.

"You know, I don't see that happening somehow."

And just like that, her fingers were curling round the waistband of Emma's jeans and slowly pulling them down. Emma lifted her hips to help, watching Regina eagerly. Once they were gone, Regina eyed her underwear and paused.

"We should make this even, I think," she said, and then, before Emma could blink, reached down and tugged off her own shirt. The second Emma saw her black, lacy bra appearing, she groaned and reached out for her.

"Come here. Now."

They moved up toward the pillows and fell into a series of breathless, gasping kisses that made them both go lightheaded. Emma's arms were thrown around Regina's neck and kept trying to tug her closer, like the faintest sliver of air between them was nipping at her skin. She could feel Regina's chest and back burning beneath her hands - the muscles shifting and subsiding any time she moved - and had to stop herself whining out loud yet again at the need to have even more of her. 

Regina noticed and grinned against her lips. "You _have_ been wanting this for a while, haven't you?" 

Emma decided to ignore her. Instead, she reached behind Regina's back, fiddled for her bra clasp and pulled it open.

The second Regina's breasts appeared before her eyes, she felt herself tearing up. Regina laughed at the sight of her. "Are you quite alright?" 

"Shut up," Emma choked out as Regina sat back and removed the rest of her bra, giving her an unobstructed view. Emma reached out and tentatively cupped them, her forehead scrunched up like she was worried they were about to disappear again. The second Regina felt her cool palms against her nipples, she groaned and tipped her head back. Just like that, Emma couldn't hold back any longer.

She pushed herself upright and buried her face in Regina's chest, leaving hot, desperate kisses across any inch of skin she could find. She smelled otherworldly - even sitting beside her in a car for a week hadn't prepared her for how rich and fresh and exotic her skin was. Regina's pulse was pounding beneath it and Emma deliberately left a red mark directly over her heart, hoping the touch of her lips would repair some of the damage everyone before her - and maybe her as well - had done to it. At the sensation, Regina lifted her hands to cup the back of Emma's head and sighed with gratitude.

And then they were lying down again, Emma's shirt being torn over her head as Regina's pants were unbuttoned. The remaining scraps of fabric were ripped off and tossed to the carpet. Emma blinked back tears for a second time when she realised Regina was completely naked and starry-eyed above her, her hair messy and tousled and thrown to the side as she dipped forward to kiss Emma's lips one more time before sliding downward. The faint bruises on her stomach began to multiply, and just when Emma was writhing and begging for more, Regina caved and moved down those last few inches.

At the feeling of her tongue swiping through her, Emma nearly burst into tears. She gripped the pillow beneath her head with both hands and all but howled, spreading her legs further so Regina could settle herself between them. Grinning, Regina dipped her tongue in again and moaned against her clit, sending vibrations shooting up from her cunt to her head. Emma could barely lie still from the sudden overstimulation, but that worked just fine for Regina - looping her arms around Emma's thighs, she pinned her down hard and dove back in.

"Stop wriggling," she muttered. She didn't really mind, but she just wanted to say what was coming next. "If you break my nose, I'll never fuck you again."

Just like that, Emma was lying perfectly still. Regina could feel her legs trembling from the exertion, and when she quietly said, "Good girl" into Emma's dripping pussy, she felt the shaking sensation move to the rest of her body.

"Regina," Emma gasped, slapping a hand over her own mouth. "I can't—"

To stop her saying anything else, Regina roughly shoved two fingers inside her and laughed as Emma fell apart, her orgasm rattling through her and lifting her lower back off the bed. As soon as it had passed, Regina started again, pushing her fingers in slower and focusing them on her G-spot, rubbing in short, sharp curves that made Emma's eyes grow wider and wider. She was shaking again, and her right hand was no longer over her mouth but buried in Regina's hair, pulling her so close to her clit that she was sure she probably couldn't breathe. Still, Regina just smirked and kept going, not letting her rhythm falter, until Emma came again with a breathless cry that Regina was certain the entire floor had heard.

She let her recover after that, burying her face back in Emma's stomach and kissing her tenderly over all her newly formed bruises. Her body was hot and sticky and almost melted into the sheets. 

"Regina," she eventually croaked, forcing her to look up. "Come here. Please."

Climbing onto her knees at once, Regina crawled forward to kiss her or hold her or whatever else Emma needed. She was slightly taken aback when Emma shook her head.

"No," she said, looking pointedly down at Regina's body. "Come _here_."

It took Regina a moment to realise what she meant. As soon as she understood, she smirked.

The second she'd settled down with her pussy above Emma's mouth, she felt herself starting to sink. Emma grabbed her ass and yanked her closer, not caring about the sudden weight on her face or the thighs stopping her from catching her breath - her tongue was already deep in Regina's cunt, and the second she heard her gasp out loud, she knew she wasn't removing it any time soon.

She could feel Regina's arousal dripping down from her cunt to the very back of her tongue. It made her whole body ignite. The ass that was still captured beneath her palms and fingernails was taut and just cushioned enough for her to dig her fingers into, which only made Regina gasp harder. She grabbed hold of the headboard and rocked forward, bumping her clit against Emma's nose and moaning loudly at the feel of it. At once, Emma had too much of her and not enough by far, so she wriggled free.

"Stay right there," she said as she slipped out from Regina's body. She was positioned on her knees with her folded arms resting along the top of the headboard. When she felt Emma settling down behind her, her forehead fell down to join them.

"Emma," she groaned, although she didn't know what she was trying to say. She felt Emma's mouth between her shoulder blades, kissing down her spine until she reached her ass and then gently biting it. In that moment of distraction, two fingers slipped between her legs and entered her like a boat coursing upstream.

Regina whimpered and rocked back into them at once. She already wanted so much more, and she wondered how exactly she was supposed to ask for that without terrifying Emma away from her.

But then Emma grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back from the headboard, shoving her down into the pillows instead. Regina gasped with surprise, but automatically propped her ass higher in the air. As soon as she had, another finger slipped inside her.

She moaned gratefully and gathered the pillows into her face. Behind her, she could feel the smugness radiating from Emma as she started to fuck her faster, her other hand looping round Regina's waist and slowly caressing her clit.

"Harder," Regina bit out into the fabric. Emma did as she was told, pressing down with four fingers so that every inch of Regina's slippery clit was covered. She received a frantic nod of approval and began to fuck her even harder.

Regina could feel the very top of her head hitting the bedframe as she was forced forward with every stroke, but the pain just made the stars behind her eyes burn even brighter. She moaned on each thrust, silently begging Emma for more and then doubting herself when she felt her cunt being stretched by yet another finger. Something manic and animalistic was overtaking her and she suddenly wanted everything she could get - Emma's whole fist, her arm if it would fit in there - and the mere thought of that alone tipped her so far into her orgasm that she collapsed onto the sheets howling, the pillow beneath her face wet from saliva and sweat and the faintest tears.

Emma fell down after her, kissing her tenderly all over her back and shoulders. The sight of her - naked and trembling and glistening ever so slightly, like she was dusted with glitter - was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. 

"Regina," she whispered, kissing a particularly perfect birthmark halfway down her spine. 

"Mm?" 

"No rush," Emma said, "but do you mind if I do that again?" 

Regina laughed out loud and rolled over, grabbing Emma by the back of her head and yanking her in for a messy kiss. Emma giggled with her, enjoying the warmth of their bodies pressed together and the feeling of Regina's heart pounding against hers.

"Not at all," she eventually replied, pushing the curls away from Emma's face. "I don't know about you, but I suddenly have enough energy to keep me up all night."

Emma grinned and kissed her again. She was just getting ready to crawl downward once more - to spend at least an hour with her tongue buried between Regina's legs, just like she deserved - when she heard her phone buzz. After a moment of rummaging on the floor, she managed to fish it out of her crumpled jeans.

Her eyes nearly rolled out of her head when she saw the text.

_Obviously I'm really happy for you both, but do you mind keeping it down a bit? We have to be up early tomorrow for the rest of the drive._

She showed the screen to Regina and, as total mortification spilled out over them, they collapsed laughing in each other's arms. By the next morning, neither of them could remember exactly how they'd fallen asleep - but they had, naked and curled up together, Emma's face buried in Regina's shoulder and Regina's thigh tangled between Emma's. They woke up blearily, their bodies tender and slightly bruised, but still pressed together. Regina cracked open one eye, saw Emma smiling sleepily at her, and felt her heart thump properly for the first time in years.

* * *

**THE END**


End file.
